It was 1999; I had just received a partial scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston and was considering the offer.
During a week-long Berklee guitar summer session, a friend handed me a new release by an artist I'd never heard of and said, "Get ready to be amazed; we're going to see him live tonight."
I popped in the CD and was absolutely blown away. The searing incendiary licks, the tone, the note choices, the beautiful melodicism, etc., had me hooked ASAP. The CD was Vinnie Moore's The Maze. The album truly inspired me to work on acquiring some of the effortless mastery I had heard. Vinnie is now one of my favorite players—and, I'm proud to say, a friend.
Flash forward 16 years: I'm a Berklee graduate, and Vinnie and I played the Shred Guitar Masters 2015 Mexico City gig together—and it was a blast.
His new album, Aerial Visions, is truly phenomenal. Check out his badass cover of ZZ Top's "La Grange" from the new album.
For more about Moore, visit vinniemoore.com.
